# Lenny Playbooks > Curated skill combinations for specific roles - founder, PM, manager, growth leader, and more. Each playbook combines essential Lenny skills. - Skill: `leolin990405/lenny-playbooks` (Agent Skill) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add leolin990405/lenny-playbooks` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/leolin990405/lenny-playbooks/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: Marketing & Growth - Author: LeoLin990405 (https://skillmd.com/u/leolin990405) - Updated: 2026-09-17 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/leolin990405/lenny-playbooks --- # Lenny Playbooks - Role-Based Skill Combinations Curated collections of Lenny skills for specific roles and career stages. Each playbook combines essential skills from the base Lenny skill categories. ## Available Playbooks ### 1. Startup Founder Playbook **For:** First-time founders, early-stage startup leaders **Stage:** Pre-seed to Series A **Core Skills (from lenny-* categories):** - `lenny-startup`: Fundraising Strategy, Startup Pivoting, Designing Team Rituals - `lenny-hiring`: Writing Job Descriptions, Conducting Interviews, Building Team Culture - `lenny-strategy`: Defining Product Vision, Writing North Star Metrics, Prioritizing Roadmap - `lenny-growth`: Measuring Product-Market Fit, Designing Growth Loops - `lenny-sales`: Founder Sales - `lenny-execution`: Shipping Products, Managing Timelines **Key Focus Areas:** 1. Find product-market fit before scaling 2. Build the founding team 3. Raise capital strategically 4. Ship fast and iterate --- ### 2. First-Time Manager Playbook **For:** Individual contributors transitioning to management **Stage:** First management role **Core Skills:** - `lenny-hiring`: Running Effective 1:1s, Having Difficult Conversations, Delegating Work - `lenny-communication`: Written Communication, Stakeholder Alignment - `lenny-decision`: Running Effective Meetings, Post-mortems & Retrospectives - `lenny-career`: Managing Imposter Syndrome - `lenny-advanced`: Coaching Product Managers, Energy Management **Key Focus Areas:** 1. Shift from doing to enabling 2. Build trust through 1:1s 3. Learn to delegate effectively 4. Develop your management style --- ### 3. Product Manager Playbook **For:** PMs at any level **Stage:** All career stages **Core Skills:** - `lenny-strategy`: Writing PRDs, Problem Definition, Scoping & Cutting, Setting OKRs & Goals - `lenny-research`: Conducting User Interviews, Usability Testing, Analyzing User Feedback - `lenny-execution`: Shipping Products, Cross-functional Collaboration - `lenny-communication`: Giving Presentations, Stakeholder Alignment - `lenny-advanced`: Developing Product Taste, Systems Thinking **Key Focus Areas:** 1. Define problems worth solving 2. Understand users deeply 3. Ship with quality and speed 4. Influence without authority --- ### 4. Growth Leader Playbook **For:** Growth PMs, Growth marketers, Growth leads **Stage:** Post-PMF companies **Core Skills:** - `lenny-growth`: Measuring Product-Market Fit, Designing Growth Loops, Retention & Engagement, Pricing Strategy - `lenny-research`: Designing Surveys, Analyzing User Feedback - `lenny-marketing`: Launch Marketing, Content Marketing, Community Building - `lenny-advanced`: User Onboarding, Behavioral Product Design - `lenny-technology`: AI Product Strategy **Key Focus Areas:** 1. Build sustainable growth loops 2. Optimize activation and retention 3. Experiment systematically 4. Scale what works --- ### 5. Engineering Manager Playbook **For:** Tech leads becoming managers, Engineering managers **Stage:** First EM role or scaling teams **Core Skills:** - `lenny-hiring`: Conducting Interviews, Evaluating Candidates, Onboarding New Hires - `lenny-design`: Engineering Culture, Platform & Infrastructure, Design Systems - `lenny-technology`: Technical Roadmaps, Managing Tech Debt - `lenny-decision`: Running Decision Processes, Evaluating Trade-offs - `lenny-communication`: Running Offsites **Key Focus Areas:** 1. Build high-performing engineering teams 2. Balance technical debt and features 3. Create strong engineering culture 4. Develop technical leaders --- ### 6. Sales Leader Playbook **For:** Sales managers, VP Sales, CROs **Stage:** Building or scaling sales teams **Core Skills:** - `lenny-sales`: Founder Sales, Building Sales Team, Enterprise Sales, Partnership & BD - `lenny-startup`: Sales Compensation Design, Sales Qualification - `lenny-hiring`: Writing Job Descriptions, Conducting Interviews - `lenny-communication`: Giving Presentations, Stakeholder Alignment - `lenny-strategy`: Competitive Analysis **Key Focus Areas:** 1. Build repeatable sales processes 2. Hire and develop sales talent 3. Design effective compensation 4. Scale enterprise sales --- ### 7. AI Builder Playbook **For:** AI/ML PMs, AI engineers, AI startup founders **Stage:** Building AI-first products **Core Skills:** - `lenny-technology`: AI Product Strategy, Building with LLMs, AI Evaluation (Evals), Evaluating New Technology - `lenny-strategy`: Writing PRDs, Problem Definition - `lenny-research`: Conducting User Interviews, Usability Testing - `lenny-advanced`: Vibe Coding, Dogfooding - `lenny-growth`: Measuring Product-Market Fit **Key Focus Areas:** 1. Design for AI's strengths and weaknesses 2. Build robust evaluation frameworks 3. Ship AI products users love 4. Stay ahead of rapid capability changes --- ### 8. Executive Communication Playbook **For:** Directors, VPs, C-suite executives **Stage:** Senior leadership roles **Core Skills:** - `lenny-communication`: Giving Presentations, Written Communication, Stakeholder Alignment, Running Offsites, Media Relations - `lenny-decision`: Running Decision Processes, Planning Under Uncertainty - `lenny-hiring`: Managing Up, Building a Promotion Case - `lenny-marketing`: Brand Storytelling, Positioning & Messaging **Key Focus Areas:** 1. Communicate with clarity and impact 2. Align stakeholders at scale 3. Build executive presence 4. Navigate organizational politics --- ### 9. Career Growth Playbook **For:** Anyone looking to advance their career **Stage:** All career stages **Core Skills:** - `lenny-career`: Startup Ideation, Managing Imposter Syndrome, Personal Productivity, Organizational Transformation - `lenny-hiring`: Building a Promotion Case, Negotiating Offers, Finding Mentors & Sponsors, Career Transitions - `lenny-advanced`: Energy Management - `lenny-communication`: Written Communication, Giving Presentations **Key Focus Areas:** 1. Build skills before you need them 2. Create visibility for your work 3. Find mentors and sponsors 4. Navigate career transitions --- ## How to Use Playbooks ### Quick Start Ask me to help with a specific playbook: - "Use the Startup Founder playbook to help me with fundraising" - "Apply the PM playbook to write a PRD for [feature]" - "Use the First-Time Manager playbook for my first 1:1" ### Combining Skills Playbooks automatically combine relevant skills. For example: - "I'm a founder preparing for Series A" → Combines startup, hiring, strategy, and communication skills - "I'm a new PM at a growth-stage company" → Combines PM, growth, and execution skills ### Custom Playbooks You can request custom combinations: - "Create a playbook for a technical PM at an AI startup" - "What skills do I need as a PM transitioning to founder?" ## Skill Dependencies ``` lenny-playbooks ├── lenny-hiring (13 skills) ├── lenny-strategy (10 skills) ├── lenny-growth (4 skills) ├── lenny-research (4 skills) ├── lenny-marketing (5 skills) ├── lenny-sales (4 skills) ├── lenny-communication (5 skills) ├── lenny-decision (5 skills) ├── lenny-execution (3 skills) ├── lenny-technology (6 skills) ├── lenny-design (5 skills) ├── lenny-advanced (12 skills) ├── lenny-career (5 skills) └── lenny-startup (5 skills) ``` ## Source [Lenny's Podcast Playbooks](https://refoundai.com/lenny-skills/playbooks/) | [Lenny's Podcast](https://www.lennyspodcast.com/)